Where the name Hatsudai comes from, what stood here before the station, and what you can still spot on a walk today. Then the events near the station that we have checked on the official pages.
One explanation for the name Hatsudai begins with a woman who cared for a future shogun. According to Shibuya City, Hatsudai-no-Tsubone, wife of Doi Masakatsu, served as a wet nurse to Tokugawa Hidetada, Japan's second Tokugawa shogun. In 1591, she received land worth 200 koku in Yoyogi Village and is said to have retired here. Local tradition holds that the neighborhood took her name. A reminder survives in Hatsudai-zaka, the slope south of the station.
Another theory connects the name to one of the fortified positions reportedly established around Yoyogi by the medieval military commander Ota Dokan. The precise location and historical existence of this fortification have not been established, so neither explanation should be treated as certain.
North of Hatsudai Station, the Koshu Kaido highway runs east to west. To the south, the land descends through a series of small valleys cut into the Yoyogi plateau. Fields once covered the slopes, while rice paddies occupied the wetter hollows. Walk downhill toward Yoyogi-Hachiman and the changes in elevation reveal a rural landscape still recognizable beneath the modern city.
→ Leave Hatsudai Station on the southern side and follow Hatsudai-zaka toward Yoyogi-Hachiman. Notice the changing elevations between the main road and the residential streets. These slopes preserve the shape of the former farming village.
Sources (in Japanese): 渋谷区「地名の由来・初台」, 初台商店街「商店街について・初台の歴史」
The highway north of Hatsudai Station follows a corridor that once carried one of Edo's most important water supplies. Construction of the Tamagawa Josui aqueduct began in 1653, and water delivery started in 1654. Engineers carefully followed higher ground across the Musashino Plateau, allowing water from the Tama River to flow toward Edo by gravity. Near Hatsudai, the aqueduct ran roughly parallel to the Koshu Kaido highway.
The highway attracted merchants and travelers, but the landscape changed only a short distance south. Small valleys cut through the Yoyogi plateau. Farmers cultivated the slopes and used the wetter valley bottoms for rice paddies. Some feudal households maintained suburban properties nearby, although most of the surrounding district remained agricultural. The contrast between the busy road and the quiet farming village was pronounced.
Modern transportation arrived in 1914 with the opening of Kaiseibashi Station on the Keio Electric Railway. It was renamed Hatsudai in 1919. The section toward Shinjuku was moved underground in 1963, and Hatsudai became part of the new Keio Line route in 1978. Much of the former aqueduct has disappeared beneath roads and development. Walk between the highway and the southern slopes to discover how an Edo waterway, an old road, and successive railway lines shaped the district.
→ Walk beside Koshu Kaido near Hatsudai Station to trace the former Tamagawa Josui corridor. Then head south into the sloping residential streets. The difference in elevation between the highway and the former farming valleys reveals how water supply routes and agriculture once shared this landscape.
Sources (in Japanese): 東京都水道局「玉川上水の歴史」, 初台商店街「商店街について・初台の歴史」
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We list events we could confirm on the official page or official Instagram of the venue or organiser. Details can change, tickets sell out and venues close, so check the official page before you go. Distances are straight-line and travel times are rough estimates. Photos show the venue or its surroundings, not the event itself. Titles and descriptions are our own translations from Japanese. This site contains affiliate links (ads).